19 dead, 263 injured from China 7.0-magnitude quake

CHENGDU, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen people have been killed and 263 got injured in a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck a remote area in southwest China's Sichuan Province Tuesday night, local authorities said Wednesday night.

The dead include eight tourists and two locals. The identities of the rest nine were not yet known, said Liu Zuoming, Communist Party chief of the Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba.

Ten people were in serious condition, including three in critical condition, the information office of the provincial government said in the latest casualties update.

Four seriously injured were transferred to the Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital in the provincial capital of Chengdu for better treatment Wednesday.

The earthquake hit Jiuzhaigou County at 9:19 p.m. Tuesday at a depth of 20 kilometers, according to China Earthquake Networks Center.

Jiuzhaigou is a popular tourist destination in the mountains on the eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is part of the Aba prefecture and is known for its ethnic minority communities, mountainous landscape, and stunning scenery.